Five ways to increase views to your LinkedIn profile - By David Pride

I believe LinkedIn is a great way for business professionals to make connections. Whether or not you are new to LinkedIn, increasing your profile views can lead to exciting opportunities and new contacts. Follow these five steps to increase LinkedIn profile views:

1. Make your headline stand out! A headline makes or breaks whether someone will click on your profile. Often, it’s your one (and perhaps only) opportunity to make an impression. It gives you a chance to incite curiosity, emotion, and action; so, make it unique and memorable.

By default, LinkedIn generates a headline that states your current job and employer, but you can (and should) customize it! LinkedIn only allows 120 characters, so use them all and make them count. Make sure your headline provides the most important and relevant information about what you can offer. To increase rapport with a potential viewer, use language that sets you apart from the competition.

2. Take part in groups. When I say this I don’t mean groups that only appeal to your colleagues either. I am talking about group where your prospects may be. If you are a uniform sales rep for the Cintas Corporation (as I once was), it makes more sense for you to be joining groups where you can connect with local business owners who are potential prospects than it does to be hanging out in the “Uniform Sales Professionals” group. No, I do not know if that group exists.

Taking part in a group is important but more important is adding value to that group instead of just spamming your latest blog in a desperate plea to get someone to click over to your website. Here’s a thought, why not start an actual conversation within the group by asking open-ended questions? Or, answer someone else’s question without an ulterior motive of getting them to buy from you. Don’t worry, if you help enough people they will ask to connect, or ask to buy. It was Dale Carnegie who said, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

3. Become a Premium member of LinkedIn. Not because this is going to skyrocket your profile views but because it opens up some doors to see more people who are viewing your profile and it also gives you some interesting stats. There is a $9.99/month option that I use and have found it plenty beneficial since I have no need for all the capabilities of the more expensive versions.

Important note here: If you are going to pay to be able to see more of the people who view your profile I would also encourage you to be prepared to reach out to those people and initiate a connection/conversation. When someone who I am not connected to views my profile and I am alerted to it. My next step is to send them a message. Many times this leads to a new connection and a few times it has led to new business. Before you send that message please take a moment to view their profile and personalize what you might say. No one likes a canned response.

4. Keywords are vital for developing a searchable profile. Which keywords portray your expertise and career goals? What topics interest your ideal viewer? On my LinkedIn profile, I emphasize areas of expertise, interests, and professional accolades that resonate with my community.

Also, incorporate relevant keywords into multiple sections – especially your headline, past job titles and descriptions, experience and skills and your specialties. Remember, hiring managers or potential prospects (not computers) are the ones who actually read your profile, so choose keyword placement wisely and don’t overdo it. The goal here is to show how often you can type “social media marketing expert.”

5. Build recommendations. Social proof is a big deal in the internet world. Building recommendations results in increased profile views, as virtual passersby are given more of a reason to click-through. In fact, some suggest that ten recommendations or more can significantly raise your profile’s search ranking.

As the old saying goes, “It’s much better to give than to receive.” Writing recommendations for others will increase sentiment while encouraging other professionals to return the favor.

Whatever your job is, or whatever the business is that you are trying to build I believe LinkedIn can be a valuable asset. I would love to hear your stories of how you have made great connections, a new sale, or friendships all due to a LinkedIn relationship.